There is presently a trend toward using pickup trucks for both business and personal applications. For example, individuals are now using such trucks during business hours to haul merchandise or materials and are converting the truck to personal use, such as camping during evenings and on weekends. Because it is sometimes necessary to transport both business and personal cargo under cover, and because some articles such as tools or personal belongings are particularly susceptible to theft, there exists a need for covering the bed to protect its contents.
Pickup truck beds have typically been covered, in the prior art, by a tonneau type cover which is formed of cloth and has peripheral snaps that attach to corresponding snaps located along the sidewall of the bed. The tonneau type cover, however, although widely used, does not prevent access to the bed since it can be easily removed. Furthermore, the initial installation of the tonneau cover requires drilling of the sidewall for installation of the snaps, and after installation, is somewhat inconvenient to apply and remove from the bed of the truck.
One object of the present invention, therefore, is to provide a new and improved pickup truck bed cover.
Another object is to provide a pickup truck bed cover that protects the contents of the bed from weather and from theft.
Another object is to provide a pickup truck bed cover that enables the truck to be applicable alternatively, in business use for hauling cargo where protection from weather is required, and in personal use where theft protection of a type provided by a conventional automobile trunk is needed.
Another object is to provide a pickup truck bed cover that encloses the entire bed and folds open when not in use to prevent interference to access of the bed.
Still another object is to provide a pickup truck bed cover which is capable of enclosing the entire bed and opening to expose certain portions of the bed for access.
Yet another object is to provide a new and improved pickup truck bed cover that is installed without requiring drilling of holes in the exterior of the sidewall of the pickup truck bed.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,512,828 discloses a pickup bed cover that is rigid and functions as a load carrying deck. Access to the bed is made through a series of doors mounted in the deck. The doors are pivoted on longitudinal hinges so that they must be opened and closed from the sides of the truck; there is no convenient way to operate the doors from the rear of the bed. Also, in order to obtain access to a large portion of the bed or to store on the bed a large article that extends above the deck, the entire deck must be disassembled from the sidewall of the bed.
Another object of the invention, therefore, is to provide a new and improved, rigid, pickup bed cover having access openings that can be operated from the rear of the bed.
Another object is to provide a new and improved, rigid, pickup bed cover that enables access to a large portion of the bed for storage of articles extending above the cover, without requiring disassembly of the cover from the bed.